Report: January Motorhome Sales ‘Solid’

March 14, 2013 by Justin Leighty
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Consumers, such as these at the Florida RV SuperShow in January, bought motorized RVs at a torrid pace across the U.S. in the first month of 2013.

Editor’s Note: The investment firm of Robert W. Baird & Co. issued a client newsletter following this week’s release of the January retail sales figures for motorhomes from Statistical Surveys Inc. (SSI). Excerpts from the Baird newsletter follow.

U.S. Motorhome retail up 22% in January. According to data from Statistical Surveys, motorhome (Class A & C) industry retail grew 22% in January. Class A sales grew 25% while Class C retail increased 19%. The growth is a solid start for the year after U.S. motorhome retail demand increased 7% in 2012. Winnebago retail grew 29% in January, pushing growth to 19% through the first two months of its February quarter. Thor already reported results for the January quarter.

Motorhome retail registrations in the U.S. grew 22% in January. Class A registrations grew 25% while Class C registrations grew 19%. The growth is a solid start to the year after U.S. motorhome retail grew 7% in 2012. Industry retail growth faces a difficult comparison in February (+31%).

Solid QTD results for Winnebago. Winnebago U.S. motorhome (A & C) retail grew 29% in January, which represents the second month of Winnebago’s fiscal Q2. During the first two months of the February quarter, Winnebago U.S. retail demand grew 19%. To put that in context, we model Winnebago North American motorhome retail growth at 25% for the quarter. Our above-consensus revenue forecast for Winnebago is unchanged ($182 million vs $171 million). We model 45% motorhome shipment growth on a 25% increase in motorhome retail volume and 16% jump in dealer inventory.

Thor U.S. retail grew 38% in fiscal Q2. Thor motorhome retail improved 38% in the United States during fiscal Q2. However, Thor already reported fiscal Q2 results on March 7, so the January data are not incremental.